Category Archives: Learning and teaching

Recently a colleague and I were discussing attempts to improve presentations. Most schoolkind can share tales of endless screeds of plagiarised text read straight from the screen without any reference to the audience, enlivened only with stretched, pixelated images taken without thought from Google images. This defines too many presentations using Powerpoint or Keynote or similar software. She expressed her frustration:

I’m fed up with pupils using Powerpoint to write reports.

I thought that was an interesting way of phrasing it:

Are pupils using Powerpoint to write reports?

If they are, is it wrong to use Powerpoint in this way?

Does it matter what software is being used?

Why do so many pupils use Powerpoint all the time, for everything?

So I asked them : what do you use Powerpoint for?

The pupils all looked at me with that familiar, she’s-lost-it-again expression, and told me

It’s for making powerpoints.

And that I think is precisely the problem. Pupils are not considering whether they’re writing a report or a presentation or making notes – they’re making ‘a powerpoint’. It’s a stand alone piece of work which they often don’t connect to any particular purpose, because it’s a purpose in itself.

And to be honest, staff (including me) are equally guilty of telling pupils that they’re going to ‘do a powerpoint‘ as shorthand for ‘present your learning in an interesting way with the assistance of presentation software‘.

No surprise that pupils’ focus is on the slides, rather than their talk: they’re doing what we ask them to do.

Challenge X continues to adapt, mainly following on from pupils’ ideas and suggestions. Most recently it seemed that pupils weren’t looking beyond the first suggestion available to them so we’ve created a page to collate all of the websites we’re suggesting.

Today I introduced a class to this new page and particularly to TED talks, one of which caught their eye: the invention of a shark-deterrent wetsuit by Hamish Jolly.

That caused an inundation of shark defence suggestions during which I suggested punching the shark on the nose (I know I read it somewhere). My puny efforts were mocked – how on Earth could you punch a shark? – when I remembered that Brian Blessed had punched a polar bear in his tent. So I told them that too.

Isn’t it lovely to hear children’s laughter? Hmm, time to get some work done methinks, so pupils are asked to check their log sheets, complete their last task and select another. Remember the purpose of this period was to expand their ideas? Congratulations, Jen, you’ve now got half the class researching sharks and most of the rest researching polar bears.

There are still one or two individuals. One girl called Natalie is looking for a short reading connected to her name. After drawing a blank on connected author (Natalie Babbit – Tuck Everlasting – is missing), I suggest a Christmas connection (since Natalie comes from Latin natale domini. She selects a book, reads for a while, then comes over,

Miss, did you know Christmas is Christ’s Mass? I can’t believe I didn’t see that before! Wow! That’s amazing!

See, finding things out for yourself is still one of the best feelings in the world 🙂

Meanwhile the shark hunters are getting on swimmingly (sorry) and want to know about sharks around the coast of the UK. So we look up basking sharks, and discover their size, their feeding habits and where they hang out. Pupils were keen to share locations they’ve swum on holiday, including the Black Sea, California and Greece. Are there sharks? Are they going to die? Will sharks attack beaches?

As head know-it-all, I am naturally assumed to have this information at my fingertips (!) but even though the point is to get them researching, I do suggest that while it’s rare, I have seen footage of sharks close to beaches and that maybe if a shark was hungry enough, it might not be able to resist a meal just waiting on the shore.

At this, one pupil drops her book, turns pale and asks in horror,

Miss, are we MEAT?

Now you don’t want to get into a conversation about cannibalism, but to be honest there aren’t many answers to that question.

At this point, the other wildlife squad appear to check ‘the name of that guy that attacked a polar bear’. They don’t believe me – how would he get a polar bear in his tent? – and want to confirm it for themselves, which is fabulous. So we find a biography of Brian Blessed, and I draw their attention to some of his adventures and they’re hooked. As they leave the Library, I can hear them quoting him.

Discoveries of all sorts, information checking and a new hero. One hour in the Library. Mission accomplished 🙂

I always doubt that I’m teaching classes the best ways of using the Library. And I think that’s healthy, so long as it encourages improvement. And improvement requires reflection, so …

Do pupils see investigations as a way of learning how to research or just another class task to get through?

Do they recognise that they’re being taught secrets for tackling research, or is it all a massive waste of time when they’d rather just get to work?

Do they see materials organised in advance as a help or as something crippling their own discoveries?

Do they regard investigation questions as a useful way to analyse information or as something bloody awkward when they’d rather just spout the facts?

I’m guessing their responses would mainly fall within the the second halves of those questions. And in one sense, that’s tough. My job is not about making their lives easier by giving them all the answers, but to make their lives more manageable by giving them the skills to search out material for themselves, to encourage them to think more deeply and more widely and to help them understand and analyse and question information in all its forms.

But those responses would also be understandable; at their age, I’d have probably gone with all of the latter options too, unless challenged to consider what I was actually doing. Because an equally important part of my job is to ensure that pupils understand the purpose of each activity, and hopefully gain a sense of the importance of the skills we’re trying to pass on.

And I believe the first step is to ask them for their answers to the questions above. I’ve been considering a questionnaire on information and literacy for a while, one that covers access to information, as well as understanding.

Secondly, more guidance for pupils on exactly what skills the Library does teach might be useful, especially if people are reminded of those skills, say any time they walk past, maybe on a big banner? 🙂

Research is like a jigsaw but the pieces are hidden and you don’t know what the picture is until you’re finished

I tell the pupils a version of this all the time, usually when they’re frustrated at having to collect information from lots of different places. Most of them get the metaphor about jigsaw pieces, but the whole picture is a different problem.

Today a class was gathering information for their investigation when I started getting requests to help with their final reports. I’m confused. Surely they’ve only just started taking notes? But yes, they are attempting to write their report already, adding to it as they find a new bit of information. When the 10th kid asks for the same assistance, I call the entire group to a halt and we review the various stages involved in this piece of work.

select specific task from list provided

brainstorm possible ideas and keywords and existing knowledge

locate the information required from available materials

evaluate sources for reliablility

decide whether to gather this information or not

carefully gather information with proper note-taking (NOT copying)

continue search for information

ongoing review of information analysing what is still required and adapting search parameters accordingly

synthesise data collected to create an overview – the whole picture

write the report

Except that pupils are jumping from 1 to 3 to 6 (and copying verbatim, not making notes) to 10. Sorry, boys and girls, but that doesn’t work. You’re trying to write a report. A report that you can’t write yet because you don’t know what you’re going to write: you need the full picture first!

Unfortunately, investigations in the Library are heavily time restricted. Usually we have three periods – introduction and preparation, followed by two research periods, with the class writing their reports in their own time. Teaching staff are usually sympathetic to the research process, but also struggling to get through everything in the syllabus. And the Library often can’t accommodate more research time either, but it’s absolutey vital that the pupils understand how all these little pieces come together to make the whole picture, and why it’s necessary in the first place. So what can we do?

This was all at the back of my mind the other day when I saw the Sketchtoy website, which provides a space to draw online, and also allows drawings to be shared. I am no artist, at least not with a brush or pencil, and certainly not with a mouse. My mind cannot take an image, break it into its constituent parts, and arrange them back in the proper order. An imaginary picture is even worse. Where do you start? But watching in fascination as a Sketchtoy picture was recreated before me, I began to understand the process.

And that’s I wondered about sketching as a visual metaphor for the research process?

Can you take this picture apart?

Where would you start?

What different parts can you identify?

And then show them the video of the picture creation process. Once they’ve got the idea, then try the same with a report, and finally guide them through the investigation stage by stage. It’s the same as learning how something works by taking it apart first.

I know some will get incredibly frustrated at the delay (staff and pupils) but I think it’s worth trying. We’ll see what happens with the next investigation.

We’ve been told about a potential merger with another school that I’m officially not allowed to comment on, but which has been on the minds of everyone involved since the news broke.

However, life goes on, work goes on.

At lunchtime, the PT English and I were invited to listen to and provide feedback for two pupils who were entering a public speaking competition on the topic of education. One spoke about how education should help pupils discover and follow their hidden talents, the other about being inspired and the role of teachers. They were both delivered with passion and eloquence, they were well argued, thought provoking, and not especially positive about the current form of education they are undergoing.

But more than anything else, it was a boost of energy back into two tired educators with a lot on their minds, and a reminder of why they chose to work in a school in the first place.

The Library is located almost at the end of a corridor with just one room beyond. This room is used for meetings, interviews and as an extra space when one is required. People tend to forget that the Library is right next door, perhaps because the Library entrance isn’t immediately adjacent.

Yesterday a harassed colleague rushed in to tell me that her class had been given permission to practice singing in the room that period. She was obviously concerned that this would impact on the peace and tranquility of the Library; it actually gave us the chance to enforce peace and tranquility for a change by telling the class that their voices would be picked up by the microphones 😈

This morning, I discovered that interviews were taking place in the room. Ideally I’d have just cancelled every class – the fewer distractions the better for interviewees – but that wasn’t possible. So 2nd year English working on Challenge X were encouraged to only use computers if absolutely necessary, the Tutor class registering for the Careers software were warned to remain in absolute silence while they worked, and the 1st year Reading Trailers remained in class and came along to swap their books in wee groups.

The only difficulty came with IDL. This was their last period and the intention had been to complete and print off all of their work. On a rather noisy colour printer. Right through the wall from where the interviews were happening. Er, no.

Alternative plan needed sharpish. Something to keep them away from the printer. Something to keep them away from the computers altogether. And that’s when I suddenly found myself saying to the class,

since we can’t print off today, we’d like you to work together to create a board game to tour around Lanarkshire using the resarch you’ve already gathered.

And the class, bless them, didn’t even blink at the change of plan, but rapidly got their paper and pens sorted and got to work. Ten minutes later, as we surveyed the happily blethering tables, adapting their work, checking leaflets for additional Lanarkshire locations, I turned to the teacher and muttered,

Don’t hate me, but this is much more fun than our original plan. I think we should swap to this for all the other classes too.

to which she fortunately replied,

Yes, I think so too!

They say necessity is the mother of invention. You never know what set of circumstances will cause your brain to provide a better solution to an existing challenge. I suppose the trick is being open to the opportunity.

A class are in the Library along with their teacher, a student and myself. We explain the investigation to the class, and ask them to write down which topic they intend to investigate. Two periods are spent reading and taking notes from the assembled materials and then pupils decide whether they have enough information to start writing their first drafts, or whether to continue their research.

Collating and summarising aren’t easy and some are having problems translating their notes into what they want to say so I wander around checking their work, advising on their information, suggesting ideas and pointing out blatant plagiarism. And that’s when I discover three pupils who have got confused, mixed up, weren’t paying attention, call it what you will, whose notes are unrelated to any of the investigation questions.

Now, I’m a fair person, and I don’t get annoyed when one pupil flings his pen – actually my pen – away in disgust and refuses point blank to do anything else: it’s not fair, how was he supposed to know etc etc etc. What does get my goat is when he tells me it’s my fault.

Because?You told me to copy information out of those books!

Really? Well, I share your frustration, young man, because I specifically said NOT to copy, guess you missed that bit. Also where I discussed identifying useful material, using indexes and contents pages, scanning for keywords, using Ctrl-F, using advanced Google searches, lateral thinking, suggested ideas, showed examples of previous work and helped when you told me you couldn’t find any information on your topic. A topic which is still written at the top of your sheet. Guess you missed that too, eh?

Oh the temptation… and I do begin to say that but what good will it do? Will he listen? Will any of them?

So, tongue firmly bitten, we talk instead about what was meant to happen, why they wrote down the information that they did, identify any notes that could still be used and they’re persuaded to continue researching for the remainder of the period.

And the lesson is: research is inherently frustrating for everyone involved. Mechanisms for coping with those frustrations have to be learned.

Pupils want answers to be sitting waiting for them. They don’t mind looking for them, but they expect them to exist. That’s possible in a textbook, but not in the real world of information. And it’s frustrating when you can’t find the answers, especially if you feel that you’ll be in trouble for not working when what you’re looking for is just not there!

As a librarian, I work with teaching staff to create investigations that meet the demands of Curriuclum for Excellence, encourage independent thought and lateral thinking, but it’s assumed that I’ll be able to provide sufficient relevant information at a level suitable for the young people involved. More frustration, because unfortunately, information is limited: sometimes there isn’t enough, sometimes it doesn’t exist, and sometimes there’s loads of it, but it’s unintelligible. In good practice, that’s discovered before the class comes along, but too often there’s no advance warning. And no, the internet does not supply all the answers, and even when it does, (as my daughter reminds me) sometimes it’s filtered.

But Curriculum for Excellence isn’t just about subject information. Health and wellbeing experiences and outcomes demand that schools help pupils to

build resilience and confidence

meet challenges, manage change

reflect on strengths and skills

all talents that would have helped our trio. Rather than being frustrated at not being able to find the ‘right information’, they could have considered how the information could be used, or changed topics, or just looked in different places! All of which takes resilience, confidence and the knowledge that the fault wasn’t in them, but in the books and websites they were looking at.

Learning how to use what’s available to your advantage is just as much a part of an investigation as the reading and note-taking, but it takes time and practice. For pupils selecting their own investigations, it becomes increasingly important. I would argue that this is definitely a place where librarians are essential, not just in finding the information in the first place, but in learning to cope with the frustrations that follow.

Period 1 the library has no classes booked, so I spend some time researching sources for the death of Henry, Stuart, Lord Darnley, the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots. We’re planning a cold case for the upper school Scottish Studies class, and we want it to be as realistic as we can. It’s a great story for research because there is no definitive answer, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into, and we can demonstrate that human foibles have existed for a long time. The House of Stuart are their own soap opera, so let’s share it with the masses.

It’s also incredibly complicated, and there isn’t enough time to work through everything, so we’re trying to focus on the main points to create a relatively straight route through the chaos. And for each of those main points we need a source for which we create guide questions. The point is to encourage pupils to judge the reliability of a source, primary or secondary, and use that evidence to synthesise a plausible solution to the murder of Henry Stuart.

Period 2, and I’m introducing another second year English class to the delights of Challenge X. Just like yesterday’s troops, they aren’t impressed with it at all to begin with. I’m particularly pleased though that they quickly grasp the point and get stuck in, offering new ways of completing each challenge, and realising the benefits of having a book to go along with it!

As usual, we have the ‘books are good’ discussion and as usual, the arguments that ‘I don’t read’ but there’s no malice in it. There is a willingness to try, and far fewer attempts to get out of it than they did a year ago during the Reading Trail. Whether this is because they know neither I nor the teacher will budge, or because they trust us more, I don’t know, but it’s lovely to see them jump into the catalogue, swm through the records and come out the other end with a book gripped between their teeth – metaphorically.

My notebook contains all the details of who’s working with who, and what challenges they’ve set for themselves, and now it’s gone missing.

Tutor time I spend adding material to blogs and e-mails, and after interval is the Interdisciplinary Learning class. The class gets settled, the teacher and I agree some minor changes to our plan of work, I collect more material, and attempt to download a PDF for the benefit of a couple of numpties looking up the Internet Movie Database instead of Lanarkshire Tourism – five minutes to download a small PDF!

The last class before lunch is first year. Back to the Reading Trail, with me attempting to simultaneously demonstrate mind-mapping and issue books to the class. Managed it – just – but it’s taken almost every ounce of concentration available to me. However, I do notice how many of the brand new books that were added to the shelves last night have already been grabbed for borrowing.

At lunchtime, we’re discussing part-time jobs with some senior students – how to deal with people ordering double cheeseburgers then being upset because they contain cheese – and the teacher I’m expecting 5th period pops in to cancel.

Excellent, I can get more books prepped for the shelves and get the press release written. I just need my notebook, which is right … actually, where’s my notebook?

Seriously, where’s my notebook?????

Now instead of having an afternoon of catching up, I lose an hour tracking down staff from earlier to check that they haven’t accidentally lifted it, hunt through boxes, and drag through my memory of when I saw it last (period 2 to be precise).

I even miss And Now This as I churn through ever more frustrating piles of paper looking for a single very specific collection of spiral-bound papers. Many of the excessive papers do get binned – can’t believe how much junk staff and pupils print and then abandon – but a lot has to go back into other piles as I get ever more desperate.

I remind myself that the sellotape was invisible to me yesterday when it was merely blocked from view by my own elbow, and hope that the notebook will also re-appear by magic tomorrow.

Another 1st year class came to the LRC for a round of Viking research, and to improve my education in class management.

Make sure the class listen and understand their instructions.

Quick introduction and review of existing knowledge and into the first task: watch the video clip and write down which activities or jobs took place in the Viking settlement of Jarlshof, using evidence from both the images and the voiceover.

Their first three answers:

It’s beside the coast.
They had fresh water.
The archaeologists are digging things up.

So we stopped. I pointed out that they weren’t asked to take notes on everything, just the possible activities in the Viking settlement of Jarlshof, and discussed with them what activities might take place because the village was by the sea. And I also explained what the archaeologists were doing (and when).

The rest of the possible answers pop up, along with a couple that weren’t mentioned – raiders! leader! – and we add in trade too.

OK, let’s try that again, Jen. Make sure the class listen and understand their instructions

Task 2: each person in the group is going to select one activity or job from your list, and find out more about it.

Hmm. So we sort out the archaeologists, the raiders (already been vetoed since we’re talking about a peaceful village) and the women (!), and turn the bone comb into another craftworker.

I send the first three tables up to get logged into computers, and share out the books with the others, rescuing a pile of FOUR books from under one arm – one at a time please, let’s share. Everybody settles down to work, including the staff.

OK, now, Jen, are you convinced they all know what they’re doing now?

Well, up at the computers, pupils have found the school website. But now they’re stuck. So I show them where the links are on the page.

Pupil clicks on the first link, looks at the page and turns back to me

But where’s the information?

Because of course, it’s not jumping up and down shouting, “LOOK AT ME!”. Sorry, folks, but you do have to read.

A quick wander round the other webnauts leads me to explain yet again that they should be writing down information about their own activity, not Vikings in general, explain how research works, and persuade them that they can’t write powerpoints before they’ve got information before heading back over to the book jockeys.

Just in time for the usual plaintive cry,

There’s nothing in this book, Miss!Have you checked the index? The contents page? Flicked through it? OK, so what do you think you should do next?
Change my topic!

I persuade him to check out a different book instead, and demonstrate how to look for the relevant information using indexes, contents pages and send him off with a page or two to peruse before assisting victim 2.

What does this say?Poppo – says he was a priest.
So, what bit should I copy then?Sorry, no copying, just write down anything that’s relevant to your Viking activity. What is your activity anyway?
Farming.? So why are you writing about a priest?
Oh right, I thought you just had to to write anything down from the book!

Next!

Miss, I can’t find anything about farming, it’s all about food!

Miss, I can’t find anything about fishing, but I found out what Viking women wear, so can I just find out about that instead?

Miss, he (points to member of group) won’t do the same as the rest of us, he’s researching games!

And as we expand our minds with lateral thinking, make allowances for personal interests, and reiterate the task outline for the umpteenth time, I ponder with the class teacher why enthusiasm seems to lead to selective deafness and an inability to think outside the box. Maybe I’ll have a cure by the time they’re back on Friday.

1st year Social Subjects class were investigating an environmental issue today, specifically the funicular railway on Cairn Gorm. Is it an environmental disaster? Is it an economic blessing? Is it both?

I’ve set up a page on the school website to provide links to national parks, Cairngorms National Park and the funicular itself. The issue is a good one for them, but not simplistic. They are aware of both the need to care for the environment and the need for jobs, so their tendency is to gather data backing up their preferred argument. However, the information includes very few direct statements regarding the benefits or disadvantages of the funicular so most of the evidence requires a bit of lateral thinking, and that’s where the fun begins.

My preference is to ask them to gather as much information as possible and lay it out in two columns (one appearing to be for their argument and one against) demonstrating that the same information can be used to make different arguments. Other staff prefer to tell classes to make their minds up right away and seek out the information that backs up their argument.

Either way, as the pupils get stuck into the material, I wander around gently messing with their heads, challenging their ideas, pointing out evidence to support the opposite of their position and generally being helpful but awkward. Good fun, especially when the pupils start arguing back. It’s modelling the process for them, making the thinking visible, and giving them something to kick against.

Waiting for the bell at the end of the period we asked what they had discovered so far and it turned into an informal debate. They were brilliant. Every child wanted to have a say, and argued their points cogently and when one finished, the next was waiting.

Pupils aren’t always keen to share information, just in case they’re wrong. This was frankly, enchanting.

because they equate visibility with availability i.e. if they can see it, they can use it. And they’re not the only ones.

In his talk at the CILIPS Gathering 2013, Simon Finch pointed out that the digital world is existing within a legal framework put together with no concept of its future existence and that’s causing problems. Read more of Simon’s thoughts on copyright here.

So while the internet has provided a platform for hundreds of thousands of people to air their thoughts and share their creativity online, there are more who think it’s acceptable to use said work in whatever way they feel like. This is where the online scrapbook, micro-blogging or curating platforms come in, and where I get a bit uneasy. Firstly because because I’m not entirely sure about the legalities of embedding, secondly because I’m not sure where legality takes the place of decency, and last of all, because my own work has been taken without permission and it doesn’t feel good.

There’s some great stuff on Pinterest, Tumblr, Scoop It and their ilk, and I appreciate this visually attractive way of providing a collection of links to other websites. As a curation tool they are very appealing. But just because you like the look of someone else’s work, in no way does that entitle you to take it for yourself. If I walked into a shop and left with an armful of unpaid for books I would expect to be arrested. It’s not actually different because the image / sound / written piece is on the internet.

Bottom line:
people are entitled to be credited for their work.

Now, these sites are not the only culprits, and they all have detailed instructions about not infringing copyright, but I’m still left wondering why questions can’t be built into a platform’s posting process – specifically an acknowledgement that the poster has permission to use the image / sound etc, or that it has a Creative Commons (CC) licence, or is Public Domain. Something that has to be ticked or filled in, just to remind people that they are actually taking someone else’s work. And especially something to remind them that it’s their responsibility because in the terms and conditions, they’ve already absolved the platform from any responsibility.

Meanwhile, I’ve lost count of how often I’ve discovered my work in other places – once it was even translated into French which was rather startling when I realised what it was!

So am I flattered or outraged? Depends according to who’s taken it, and what they’ve done with it, and that’s where Pinterest and Tumblr in particular wind me up, because they are specifically designed to share work around in the simplest way possible, by repinning, reblogging and encouraging users to play pass the parcel with whatever they see. So when my work first ended up on Tumblr it appeared on over 1000 different pages before I became aware of it (ironically, it was discovered when a kind person contacted me on Flickr to pass on their appreciation).

Am I just out-of-date in my thinking? Well, Hubspot recorded a blogger removed from Tumblr for five copyright infringements. The article itself is less instructive than the comments that follow, which suggest a growing number of creative people getting fed up with their work being used without permission or credit, with a much smaller number suggesting that said Tumblrer had been hard done by.

Well, who knows how many people mind if their work is shared? Be good to have data on how many people mind versus how many people are aware and mind.

In the meantime, the only way to prevent something being nicked is not to put it online in the first place, but I’ll also continue to teach the people around me, including pupils and teaching staff, to be aware of others’ rights and act accordingly.

Dalzell House from the rear. This view isn’t seen often because the area is now overgrown. Thumbnail images like these can now be embedded into a WordPress or Blogger blog from SCRAN. Clicking on the image links to the original record which can be seen in full if you log in.

Back in August I visited a local history fair where I blethered for a while with some lovely folks at the RCAHMS stand about CANMORE, Scotlands Places and SCRAN and how these resources were used in school.

SCRAN stands for Scottish Cultural Resources and Archive Network, a collection of material on anything connected with Scotland and beyond from a myriad of locations. Having so much archive material readily available in one place is quite phenomenal, especially when you consider that Scottish schools have automatic access (paid for by the Scottish Government).

As a result of this conversation I went along to RCAHMS today to be part of a focus group about SCRAN as an educational tool.

Much of the conversation covered how SCRAN was used day to day, but also what could be improved, who was using it and how often; we discussed keywording, lateral thinking, the pathfinders, images, copyright, online use and curation; we compared SCRAN with other online tools, and circumstances when you would use one and not another; and we explored SCRAN in the light of Glow and Curriculum for Excellence (flexibility, interdisciplinary studies etc).

This sort of analysis is incredibly useful, although I’m aware that enthusiasm took over at times and I just blethered on. At the same time, I learned a great deal about how RCAHMS think SCRAN could and should be used, about new possibilities (like the embedding of images on blogs) and the possibilities for further training – I’ve already spoken to colleagues about having SCRAN staff come for a visit and a joint mission during the summer.

We’re not completely useless without our computer suite, but we did have to make alternative plans.

Our Viking research has followed the same basic outline for the last few years:

show video clip and ask pupils to identify as many activities as they can taking place in Jarlshof Viking village;

pupils work in a group, choosing one activity apiece to research;

two periods of research, using books and web;

pupils finally create a powerpoint as if they were Viking settlers welcoming visitors to Jarlshof, explaining what the villagers are up to (complete with Viking names).

Each person submits just one page to the finished product, so there’s also a requirement for pupils to select their best information.

Rather than cause an argument about who had already used which resources, we decided to show video clips (mainly BBC class clips and Horrible Histories) and used the opportunity to talk to the class about making notes. Too many people assume that making notes is an instinctual ability, whereas in reality it can take years for an individual to find methods that they’re comfortable with (and I know it’s not just me).

On this particular occasion, we discussed:

how they took notes already;

the fact that they wouldn’t be able to write everything down;

the fact that they shouldn’t indiscriminately write everything down anyway;

what to listen out for: keywords, synonyms;

what to look out for: visual information equally important to audible or written information;

how to note the information: abbreviations, ignoring words, using symbols, emphasis;

how important it was to write down where the information came from!

Having searched and found numerous clips, I was rather dismayed that half of them weren’t appearing in our list, until I realised that I’d fallen into the common trap of creating a search for “Vikings” rather than “Viking”; using the plural ensured half my resources would be ignored.

Honestly, call myself an information professional?!

Watching the clips was good fun. The pupils were involved, concentrating, entertained, interested, participating and learning. There were plenty of questions (allowing me to show off my Viking knowledge – always a pleasure 🙂 ) and even some singing along, literally …

Since every pupil had gathered a barrel-load of information, I suggested a final detour for a game of hnefatafl. It went down a storm, with kids yelling, ‘No, not that one, THAT ONE!’, demanding information about the game and giving us a final opportunity to get them using their imaginations:

Close your eyes, folks. Imagine you can smell smoke, and dirt, and you’re surrounded by your pals, it’s warm, it’s dark, and everyone’s yelling, telling you what to do. Because you guys are acting like Vikings right now!

A bit of fun, a bit of singing, a bit of learning, a lot of laughing. Not a bad lesson, even if I say so myself.

My lovely Apple Macs were taken away. All of the school’s computers are being upgraded and they didn’t meet the spec. As a result, any class needing computer access had to be rehoused or find something else to do. We managed to organise the research process for most classes to allow a natural break for writing, but one or two are still coming along, like the IDL class. Of course, despite numerous reminders in e-mail, daily bulletins and signs on the door, people are still asking to use my temporarily non-existent computers.

Both printers have decided that they will not work until a nice admin (i.e. not me) puts in the correct password. Happens all the time with one or other but never had both refusing to cooperate simultaneously. And of course, all the technicians are busy with computer upgrading …

IDL come along to complete their Mary Queen of Scots tweets. Everything was saved to the dropbox last week and all I had to do was retrieve and print them. Except, of course, the printers aren’t playing nice. We’ve just agreed a quick alternative plan when one of our lovely techies appears and fixes the problem, letting me quickly print off all the pupils’ work.

Unfortunately, for some reason best known to themselves, the printers decide to catch up with previous instructions from last week- perfect timing!

One of the boys has now managed to wedge his little finger into the metal tubing of the chair. This should be impossible, except of course, it obviously isn’t. The rest of the class are in fits of laughter as our hero desperately tries to free his pinkie. The class teacher is standing by with liquid soap when the First Aider appears, separates digit from furniture and carts him off for a check up.

The class are gradually settling down, and we’re back on track with our plan for today – to age the twitter pages with tea and coffee stains. This is when I realise there’s no teabags left (argh!)

Having retrieved teabags from elsewhere, I bring through water, only to be hauled back, ‘Er, Mrs Macfadyen. the water’s cold!’ OK, need brain needs a restart now!

Pupils now decide to tell me that their pages have not printed, despite the fact that I’ve sent them to the printer twice already. Oh boy, it’s one of those classes. Can I do anything right this period?

Eventually everything works out and the pupils make a good job of their aging process and even tidy up afterwards – mostly.

Tweets by pupils. Photo by J L Macfadyen.

For the last five minutes we put on one of the Mary Queen of Scots clips from Horrible Histories that I’d searched for and had unblocked. The teacher hasn’t seen this one before. It’s a great overview of Mary’s life, very funny and covers all the points we wanted them to be aware of.

There’s a 3rd year class studying conditions in the textile mills during the Industrial Revolution. They’re looking into working hours, food, pollution, punishments, accidents, workhouse children, scavengers and the kinds of work done, as well as how Robert Owen’s mills were run different to the norm. We’re asking them to identify primary and secondary sources as they go along so there’s a fair bit of archaic language about.

Seems straightforward but you never know what will come up. For example, one pupil suddenly bursts into hysterics. As we try to calm him down, he bursts out,

But, Miss, it says here that children were beaten with thongs!

So while the hysteria spreads round the class, the teacher and I try to calm things and she explains that it’s just an old-fashioned word.

It’s not what you’re thinking, says the teacher, who’s trying hard not to use any words that will cause further mayhem . It’s made of leather.

And as anarchy reaches new levels, we decide that wasn’t perhaps the best place to start.

Eventually, I manage to make the meaning clear, but it sure makes them focus as they search for new and interesting uses of the English language.

One group has struggled to select a topic from the 1960s that interests them, and having worked through two ideas already, has been persuaded to investigate the Moon landings since there’s plenty of information and it’ll be easy for them to catch up.

Wrong.

Such a simple and obvious mistake – asking pupils to investigate a topic that we assume they know about. We should really know better, but we figured they’d be able to cope.

Yeah, definitely a bad idea.

Reviewing their half-finished report about the moon landings, there was mention of Jodrell Bank and a Russian rocket, but nothing about astronauts, Project Apollo, or even the Moon itself. I wondered if they were just taking an unusual tack and asked them to explain their idea, but in fact they had never heard of the event and had only used a single website for their information.

(I’m going to ignore the fact that 13 year olds had never heard of the moon landings, and avoid the temptation to ask what they’re educating them these days.)

This is a recurring issue: how are you supposed to know what’s important when you don’t know anything about the events in the first place?

We had asked groups to brainstorm and plan their research but having changed their minds twice, these pupils were keen to catch up and just leapt straight in on their third attempt.

Understandable but not helpful.

Pupils (and some staff) grumble about the steps required of them when planning an investigation – steps that will help in the long run but which they consider to be holding them back.

We have tried to emphasise the importance of planning by including it with other information literacy processes in the assessment comments but it’s not having any impact as yet. And so, I’m on the hunt for a better idea. Nil (or should that be Neil) desperandum.

The Science Department have often asked their 1st year classes to research an element of the Periodic Table. Last year was the first time any of them had used the Library for the investigation (reason being that their own computer suite was unavailable, so they decided to slum it).

Naturally I was delighted, and brought out a load of relevant materials. The teacher in question was thrilled: where had all this stuff come from? I just grinned: Secret Powers, don’t you know! Every other class had already finished that particular unit, so further developments had to wait for this year.

This week, one lovely teacher replied to my invitation and we had a blether. She explained her concerns, about her class and their lack of researching and presentation abilities, and I suggested ways around the diffculties, like using a mind-map to remind them of what they’ve to find and to keep their notes, linking to specific websites and using the encyclopaedias. I demonstrated that the Library catalogue was already keyworded extensively, so many elements would be traceable there (sorry, can’t resist bad puns). The teacher had collected some periodic tables from a conference which listed symbols, atomic numbers, boiling points and melting points, so I suggested we use them first to remind the class how to lay out information on a mind-map.

*whispers* In return I got lovely comments about how she was going to live in the Library from now on because the Library made everything so much better than a teacher could, but that would be showing off so I won’t mention it 😀

A lot of pupils find it difficult to start any kind of notes, so the teacher and I asked questions about what the class thought should be included in this investigation, and drew a mind-map on the Smartboard, adding headings as we talked through it, encouraging the class to copy it as we went along, and leaving space for them to ‘fill-in-the-blanks’. But this is a fill-in-the-blanks exercise with added bonus features: the information is better organised, easier to write up into another format and there’s still plenty of room for individual interest and space to expand.

At least that’s the plan.

The organisation is certainly better, and they’re finding the information to complete the branches of the maps, but that’s all they’re doing. They’re hunting purely for that information which fills the gaps and ignoring everything around it; useful information is being left out, because they want to find just one thing at a time instead of arranging material as they find it.

We want them to be hunter-gatherers, identifying and picking information as they discover it, so how do we go about that? And more to the point, how do we encourage that behaviour while also encouraging the careful arrangement of information and maintain their interest???

Good day today. Very busy but accomplished a lot which always feels good.

Period 1 the Library hosted a 1st year Science class investigating elements of the Periodic Table (more about them later), then gave one of the English classes a turn at some Kids Lit Quiz questions.

At Tutor Time, I’m wandering round 3rd year classes, encouraging our Micro Tyco groups to leave some information about their enterprises on the blog, and I discover some of disheartened faces. Their problem: they don’t know what to do for Micro Tyco. We have a blether about what’s already being done, what they fancy doing, and what’s actually feasible. Time ticks away while our brains lie exposed on the rack, and its getting closer to interval. Closer to my cup of tea … tea … tea! Inspiration strikes.

You know what’s wonderful? I ask them, having a cup of tea waiting for you at interval time. Why don’t you ask if any department would be willing to pay you to get their tea ready for them? And off they head on some market researching. Unfortunately, our departments all take their breaks in their own department bases, so they’ll have a limited market unless they split up, but “50p for a cup of tea” does hit a thirsty nerve 🙂

Before lunch is a free period, so I’m preparing for forthcoming meetings with RCAHMS and Catalyst, training days with Access-IT, and trying to keep up with the ever encroaching e-mail.

At lunchtime, the Photo Club are working on their modules while more hopefuls come and take part in the KLQ trials, before 2nd year come piling in to begin transferring their written work onto the blog. Insisting on hand-drawn mind-maps to collect and arrange information has had a definite impact and there’s no plagiarism visible at all. It’s also been quicker to write since the information has already been sorted into paragraphs, and before they begin typing, I ask them to read and comment or one or two existing blog articles (which is also a great way for them to think about their own layout without me having to talk at them even more 🙂 )

No class last period, so its more e-mail, preparing materials for new lessons, and taking care of the comments already left on the blog – all positive thankfully.

And as usual, although I put the kettle on when the bell goes, I never get round to that second cup of tea. If only someone was around to make it for me …

Seems obvious yes? If you’re interested, you’re more engaged. If you’re more engaged, you’re likely to learn more. This report suggests it’s more complicated than that, and that interest can actually help make learning more positive and more efficient, with deeper understanding and better connections to previous knowledge. There’s even evidence to indicate that learning difficulties can be overcome when the learner is engrossed.

The obvious example that springs to mind is young children obsessed with dinosaurs, rhyming off multisyllabic scientific names, theoretically far above their reading age.

There’s lots of good advice in the article about how educators can spark, harness and maintain interest, but this was the sentence that grabbed my attention.

In a world too full of information, interests usefully narrow our choices: they lead us to pay attention to this and not to that.

Makes sense. You scan through articles and linger over those that catch your eye. But what happens when you’re not especially interested in the first place, but still have to research a particular topic? What do you do when nothing is stimulating, when nothing catches your eye. If interest makes it easier to learn, surely that presupposes lack of interest makes it more difficult to learn.

Imagine looking through a load of books, or at search engine results, or perhaps you’re trying to gather information from a particular website. And nothing is jumping out at you. As an adult, you’d hopefully have the confidence to move onto something else, but what if you’re sitting in a class gazing at the materials your teacher or librarian has provided and there’s nothing, and I mean nothing, to captivate you.

What are the chances that you’re going to understand it, learn it, remember it? What are the chances that you’ll give up, start mucking about, not paying attention? What are the chances that your brain starts to associate being bored with the process of research, and not just the specific topics?

The article continues,

… one reason that growing knowledge leads to growing interest is that new information increases the likelihood of conflict – of coming across a fact or idea that doesn’t fit with what we know already. We feel motivated to resolve this conflict, and we do so by learning more … A virtuous cycle is thus initiated: more learning leads to more questions, which in turn leads to more learning.

And I agree, so long as you’re already interested enough in the first place, and not disheartened by the research process.

To me, this is precisely why professionally qualified school librarians are an absolute essential in schools. The pupils are entitled to benefit from the advice and support of a person who understands the research process from start to finish, can seek out appropriate resources that can spark those questions, and work across the curriculum identifying connections.

Above all a person to collaborate with the other educators in the school to provide a collection of material that will fascinate and intrigue, to teach pupils and staff how to seek out reliable information for themselves, how to use it appropriately, and how to create their own, to demonstrate technologies that can achieve their aims in ways they find appealing, and to grab opportunities to maintain that support and advice whether the school is open or not.

Throughout, the article recommends making sure that students

have sufficient background knowledge to stimulate interest and avoid confusion … to cultivate interests that provide us with lasting intellectual stimulation and fulfillment

And a professionally run library is a pretty good place to cultivate those intellectually stimulating interests, and provide the background knowledge, through fiction, non-fiction, websites and DVDs, weekly clubs and annual events, detailed discussions and daft blethering. It saddens me that more people don’t know that, but it’s also part of my job to make sure that more people do.

And incidentally, The Brilliant Report is well named. I thoroughly recommend signing up to the newsletter.

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By the way …

I have got into the habit of writing something but only publishing it privately to begin with. This encourages me to self-edit and make sure that what I've said makes sense.
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Opinions may change according to the information I have available to me, so don't be surprised if I appear to change my mind. It's healthy.